[Cross-posted from OC Blog]
There have been some close elections in Orange County recently — Janet Nguyen’s three-vote margin in her 2007 supervisor win comes to mind — but victories don’t get any closer than Yorba Linda Councilman Jim Winder’s.
Winder’s election day margin over was a mere 7 votes Ed Rakochy. The recount completed yesterday, and Winder won by 1 — count ‘it, 1 — vote:
Yorba Linda politics revolves around downtown redevelopment, whether for you’re it for or agin it. The agin it faction, to which Rakochy belongs, already dominates the council, so a Rakochy win would have meant merely a wider majority.
Referring to our county’s seeming predilection for close, controversial or unusual elections, OC Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley joked to me that whenever he sees other ROVs, he asks if they have any stories.
"They never do," said Kelley. "But I always have a new one."